Unit Economics

On today’s episode, I sit down with ⁠ Whitney Rowell ⁠ , founder of ⁠ Miracle Mama ⁠ , a functional food company best known for its lactation cookies, which are designed to help support milk supply for breastfeeding moms. Whitney started the business after discovering that, unbeknownst to her, a cookie recipe she'd posted to her personal blog a year and a half earlier had attracted hundreds of...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Mikey Deegan, founder of Mikey’s Pies , a New York-based business selling frozen savory pies directly to consumers. In this conversation, we get into how Mikey went from running a small sandwich pop-up to building a pie business, why the company’s early drop model worked so well for managing cash flow and demand, and what has to change as he moves toward making...

On today's episode, I sit down with Caroline Dai , founder of TofuGo , a brand making shelf-stable, savory tofu snacks inspired by Chinese dried tofu, packaged in a jerky-style pouch. TofuGo launched around March of this year, went viral about two weeks in, and has been figuring out how to turn that attention into a product people understand once it hits a real shelf. In this conversation, we...

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Mehul Nariyawala , co-founder of Matic Robots , a home robotics company building one of the most advanced robot vacuums on the market. Mehul started Matic in 2017 after becoming frustrated with the limitations of existing robot vacuums, but it would take roughly seven years before the company actually began shipping product. In this conversation, we talk about why...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Cristina Ashbaugh , co-founder of Yardsale , an outdoor apparel and equipment brand, and Double Black , its recently opened coffee shop / retail space in San Francisco. Yardsale started with a pair of magnetic ski poles, but in less than three years has expanded into bags, apparel, owned retail, and now coffee. In this conversation, we talk about why something a...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Alex Brands, founder of Rite of Way, a Brooklyn-based fragrance brand. Alex spent more than a decade in brand strategy, including time at Gin Lane and Mad Happy, before launching Right of Way about a year ago. In this conversation, we get into how he evaluated fragrance as a category before deciding to enter it, what the process of developing a scent actually lo...

Jacob Afriat is the Managing Partner at Great Circle Ventures, an early-stage investment firm focused on food, beverage, and consumer health. In this episode, we break down how Great Circle decides which emerging brands are actually venture-backable. Jacob explains what he looks for in founders, growth, margins, retail velocity, repeat purchasing, and capital efficiency, why a fast-growing company...

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Dan Graham and Mollye Santulli of Springdale Ventures . Springdale invests in early-stage consumer brands, and I wanted to use this conversation to understand how the investing side of the industry actually works. In this conversation, we walk through the entire lifecycle of a deal, from how a company first gets on their radar to the metrics they look at, how they...

Alexandra Spitz is the founder of New Mom School , an in-person postpartum education business that has grown from one Orange County studio to 26 locations across 18 states. In this conversation, we talk about why Alex chose franchising over opening company-owned locations, how she selects markets and franchisees, why newborn classes are capped at 14 moms, how pricing and customer acquisition work,...

Lindsay Leopold is the founder of Joy Supply , a cookie brand focused on making a great-tasting, better-for-you product while creating more demand for regeneratively grown ingredients. In this conversation, we talk about how an oat cookie recipe from Lindsay’s great-grandfather’s 1908 bakery became a starting point for the product, what it took to develop the final recipe and bring it into commerc...

On today's episode, I sit down with Caroline McKay , the founder of Caro , a PR agency focused on design and hospitality. Before starting the firm in 2020, Caroline worked on both the agency and in-house sides of public relations, including running communications for Soho House across North America. In this conversation, Caroline explains what a PR agency actually does, why even Caro’s most es...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Tomo Delaney , founder of Noshi for Kids . Tomo started Noshi in 2015 with Food Paint, a line of fruit and vegetable purees that kids could use to decorate their food. Over the years, Food Paint made its way into Walmart and eventually onto Shark Tank, where Tomo struck a deal with Mark Cuban. Now, more than a decade later, Tomo is preparing to launch a new vers...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Alexandra Pauly , founder of Biche , a luxury pet grooming brand bringing beauty-industry standards to dog care. After working in fashion and beauty media, Alex started Biche out of frustration with the grooming products she was using on her own dog. She spent roughly a year and a half developing their first two products, and in April, went to market with a gent...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Aishwarya Iyer, founder and CEO of Brightland, a brand best known for its high-quality, California-sourced olive oils, vinegars, and other pantry items. Ash started Brightland after a career spanning beauty, technology, and venture capital, combining her interest in olive oil with a desire to build products that encourage people to live a little more offline. Ei...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Mahsa Darabi , founder of MAHSA CHAI® , a premium chai company built around high-quality ingredients, and a powdered format designed to be easier for both consumers and cafes. What started as a personal blend Mahsa made for herself during a period of postpartum anxiety eventually became a product people in her community kept asking for, and today MAHSA CHAI® has...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Erin Forden and Maddie Nehlen , co-founders of Betty Jo’s , a small-batch, pastry-inspired ice cream brand based in Brooklyn. Betty Jo’s makes hand-packed pints built around dessert-inspired flavors, with eye-catching handmade toppings like pie lattices, buttercream, jam, and other pastry elements. The business started with small drops for friends and family, th...

On today's episode, I sit down with Sahand Dilmaghani , founder and CEO of Terra Kaffe , a company building connected, bean-to-cup espresso machines for people who want better coffee at home without relying on pods or manual barista equipment. In this conversation, we talk about how Terra Kaffe brought its first machine to market through contract manufacturing, what changed between TK-01 and T...

On today's episode, I sit down with Jamie Kim , founder of Jamie’s Farm , a premium granola company based in New York. Jamie started the business while she was at Cornell, first baking every batch herself and sourcing ingredients like butter and honey from nearby farms. Since then, Jamie’s Farm has grown into about 250 doors, including Whole Foods, Central Market, FreshDirect, Farm to People,...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Nico and Fran, co-founders of Pistakio. Pistakio makes pistachio spread built around real pistachio flavor, but the product is really built around a harder question: how do you take an ingredient that is already loved in Italy, and turn it into a pantry staple for American consumers who mostly know pistachios as a snack, a gelato flavor, or a recent Dubai chocol...

Brendan Flannery is the co-founder and CEO of RIP Cold Brew, a ready-to-drink cold brew brand built around smooth coffee, shelf-stable cans, and a more active, on-the-go use case. In this episode, we get into how Brendan and his co-founders developed the first RIP product, why making shelf-stable canned coffee taste good is harder than it looks, and why the brand leads with energy and lifestyle ra...

This episode of Unit Economics is a little different. At a CPGD dinner party hosted at Maxwell Social, I tested out a new pop-up podcast format with the help of Theorist Studios. Instead of a traditional long-form interview, founders sat down for quick, two-to-four-minute conversations answering a couple questions each. The result is a fast-moving collection of mini interviews with emerging founde...

On today's episode, I sit down with Basil Beshkov , co-founder of YUZUCO . YUZUCO is importing specialty citrus juice and makes citrus ingredients with yuzu at the center of the business. Yuzu has been used across Asia for a long time, and it's recently become more visible in the U.S. through fine dining, cocktails, bakeries, and specialty food. But YUZUCO is built around a harder question: how do...

On today's episode, I sit down with Jane Wong , co-founder of NOON . NOON is making functional mushroom gummies for focus, stress, sleep, and energy, but the product is really built around a harder question: how do you take ingredients that can feel medicinal, earthy, or unfamiliar and make them easy enough for someone to use every day? This creates a lot of hard operating questions. Gummies a...

On today's episode, I sit down with Gabriella Labi and Tonya Reznikovich , the co-founders of Gato Dates . Gato makes chocolate-covered stuffed Medjool dates using organic ingredients, premium nut butters, and a clean-label approach that makes the product feel more like a boxed chocolate than a conventional snack. What started as something Gabi made at home for friends and family quickly turne...

On today’s episode, I sit down with Matt Sims , co-founder of Courier , a performance sock company building technical socks for running, cycling, and training. I first found Courier at a boutique running store in San Francisco called Running Wylder, and they very quickly became my favorite socks, so much so that I wear them every single day. So needless to say, I was really excited to sit down wit...